Arrows Grand Prix International

Arrows

Full name	Arrows Grand Prix International
Base	Milton Keynes, UK, later Leafield Technical Centre, UK
Founder(s)	Franco Ambrosio Alan Rees Jackie Oliver Dave Wass Tony Southgate
Noted staff	Tom Walkinshaw Heini Mader Ross Brawn
Noted drivers	Riccardo Patrese Alan Jones Thierry Boutsen Gerhard Berger Derek Warwick Eddie Cheever Damon Hill Taki Inoue Jos Verstappen
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1978 Brazilian Grand Prix
Races entered	368
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0 (Best finish: five 2nd places, last one at 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix)
Podiums	9
Points	164
Pole positions	1
Fastest laps	0
Final entry	2002 German Grand Prix

Arrows Grand Prix International was a British Formula One team active from 1978 to 2002. For a period of time, it was also known as Footwork.

Origins

The Arrows Grand Prix International team was founded in Milton Keynes, England in 1977, by Italian businessman Franco Ambrosio, Alan Rees, Jackie Oliver, Dave Wass and Tony Southgate (from whose surnames' initials the team took its name) when they left the Shadow team.

Team sponsor Franco Ambrosio's initials were used in the name of Arrows' first car, the Arrows FA1. Shadow sued for copyright infringement, claiming that the FA1 was a copy of the Shadow DN9. Arrows designed a greatly revised car, the Arrows A1, in 52 days. It was shown the day after the High Court of Justice in London upheld Shadow's claim and banned the team from racing the FA1.

Ambrosio left the team in early 1977 when jailed in Italy for financial irregularities.

Arrows driver Riccardo Patrese who scored points in the team's third race, the US West Grand Prix at Long Beach.

Racing history

Arrows Grand Prix International

Thierry Boutsen during practice for the 1985 European Grand Prix

For the team's first season in Formula One, the team had signed Swede Gunnar Nilsson to be their first driver. However, he would never get to drive the car, since he contracted a fatal case of testicular cancer and died later that year.

In September 1978, in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Patrese was involved in an accident which eventually claimed the life of Ronnie Peterson. Patrese was wrongly accused of causing the accident and then subsequently banned from racing at the following event (the United States Grand Prix) by his fellow drivers. In 1981, Patrese scored the team's only Formula One pole position in Long Beach, which he led until retiring with mechanical problems on lap 33 of 80. Arrows finished joint eighth in the Constructors Championship that year.

In 1984 with BMW M12 turbo engines and sponsorship from cigarette company Barclay things got much better. That year they were ninth in the Constructors Championship and eighth in 1985. At the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix, Thierry Boutsen finished third behind Alain Prost and Elio de Angelis. However, after the race, Prost was disqualified because their cars were 2 kg underweight, giving Boutsen the second place. In 1987, BMW pulled out of Formula One and the engines were badged Megatron through a deal with Arrows major sponsor USF&G, but the British team had their best seasons yet, finishing sixth in 1987 and fifth in 1988 (the final year for turbocharged engines) thanks to frequent points finishes by drivers Eddie Cheever and Derek Warwick.

While 1987 and 1988 were Arrows' best years in F1, they were also the cause of frustration for the team and its drivers Warwick and Cheever. At the start of 1987 the sports ruling body (FIA) mandated that all turbo powered cars were to use a pop-off valve in order to restrict turbo boost. This was done not only to slow the cars down for safety reasons, but it was an effort to curb the rapidly rising costs of Formula One. The problem for Arrows was that the valve would regularly cut in lower than the set limit (4.0 bar in 1987, 2.5 bar in 1988). This meant that the Megatron engines were not producing their full power. It took the team's chief mechanic Heini Mader until just before the 1988 Italian Grand Prix at Monza (Round 12) to find the solution which was simply moving the valve closer to the engine, something Honda and Ferrari engineers had long before discovered. Although Cheever and Warwick finished the race in 3rd and 4th respectively, it was too little too late as the turbo era ended after the 1988 season.

Warwick and Cheever stayed with the team for 1989 and drove the Ross Brawn designed Arrows A11 which was powered by the Ford DFR V8 engine. The team's best finish came at the United States Grand Prix in Cheever's home town of Phoenix. There the American scored his final podium finish by finishing 3rd. Ultimately though Cheever struggled in the A11 (which had to be specially modified early in the season so the tall American could fit in the car) and he actually failed to qualify at the British and Italian Grands Prix. Warwick's perennial bad luck also continued. A long pit stop during the opening race in Brazil cost him what many believed would have been his first win, while at Round 6 in the wet Canadian Grand Prix, Warwick briefly led and was in second when his Ford V8 blew. He had been regularly faster than those behind him (including eventual winner Thierry Boutsen who drove a Williams-Renault), and could have won when race leader Ayrton Senna blew the Honda engine in his McLaren with only two laps remaining. After finishing 5th in 1988, Arrows dropped to 7th in 1989.

Footwork Arrows

Japanese businessman Wataru Ohashi invested in Arrows in 1990 and the cars started displaying the Footwork logo prominently. The team was officially renamed Footwork in 1991, and secured a deal to race with Porsche engines, but the car was woefully uncompetitive and in 1992 they switched to Mugen. Arrows retained the Footwork name until Ito pulled out before the 1996 season, whereupon the name of the team was changed back to Arrows. Regardless, Jackie Oliver had retained control throughout the entire period.

TWR Arrows

At the 1997 British GP, Hill scored his first point for the Arrows team.

In March 1996, Tom Walkinshaw bought the team, and in September Walkinshaw signed up World Champion Damon Hill and hired wealthy Brazilian Pedro Diniz to help pay for Hill's salary. The team nearly secured a maiden victory at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix where Hill started in third position and passed Michael Schumacher to take first place. A component failure in the final laps of the race saw him finish second. In the following years Walkinshaw would buy the rest of Oliver's shares.

In the 2000 season, Jos Verstappen returned to Arrows where he had driven in 1996 alongside teammate Pedro de la Rosa. The chassis was an Arrows A21 with a Supertec engine. The Supertec engine was not the most powerful, but was still very good, and had been developed further for this season. Allied to an excellent aerodynamic package, and good rear end stability, it allowed the Arrows A21 to consistently set the best straight line speeds around the circuits. Generally, both Verstappen and de la Rosa were competitive within a close midfield. During the 2000 season, the Arrows team took part in a 13-part TV series named 'Racing Arrows' which followed the team and drivers throughout the year. It was shown on British TV channel ITV in 2001 during late-night slots.^[1]

A switch to Asiatech V10s in 2001 and the loss of a lot of staff left the team rather weaker in 2001 when Tom Walkinshaw decided to replace de la Rosa with F1 debutant Enrique Bernoldi.The team struggled through the season and Verstappen scored the team's only point in Austria.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi deliberately failed to qualify per instruction of the Arrows Grand Prix team at the 2002 French Grand Prix as the team's financial problems worsened.^[2]

For 2002, Walkinshaw made a deal to use Cosworth V10 engines and retained Bernoldi (with support from Red Bull) but dropped Verstappen in favour of Heinz-Harald Frentzen who became available when Prost Grand Prix closed down. This caused Verstappen to successfully sue for breach of contract. That year also saw a costly payout to Pedro Diniz after unsuccessfully suing the Brazilian, who had taken his funding to Sauber for 1999. The team faced a third litigation from Frentzen, who was on contract by a race-by-race basis and who had not yet been paid. Arrows ran out of money in the midseason and did not appear at all the races at the end of the year, their drivers deliberately failing to qualify for the French Grand Prix.

Negotiations were undertaken throughout the season with potential investors to buy into the team or buy it outright, such as Craig Pollock (who twice made an offer for the team) and Dietrich Mateschitz.

The team went into liquidation at the end of the season, also forcing TWR to close.^[3]

A consortium fronted by Phoenix Finance – run by Charles Nickerson, a friend of Walkinshaw – purchased part of the team's assets, specifically the engines, believing that together with their purchase of old Prost Grand Prix assets, it would gain them entrance for the 2003 season. However, their application was rejected by the FIA.

In their chequered history, Arrows set the unenviable record of 382 races without a win, although they collected 9 podium finishes including 5 second places.

Further use of Arrows chassis

The chassis and intellectual property rights for the chassis were later bought by Paul Stoddart, the then-head of the Minardi team as a potential replacement for his own team's chassis. The new Super Aguri F1 team bought the 2002 cars and ran them (with some modifications) as the SA05 during the first races of the 2006 season. One of these cars was said to have been on display at Melbourne airport before being acquired by Super Aguri. After being returned to the factory to be updated to comply with the 2006 regulations, the car was taken back to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. An update still based on the same chassis was designated the SA06 and made its début at the 2006 German Grand Prix. The SA05 and SA06 did not score a single point in the 2006 season.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
Arrows
1978	FA1 A1	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN		11	10th
				Riccardo Patrese		10	Ret	6	6	Ret	Ret	2	8	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	EX	4
				Rolf Stommelen			9	9	Ret	Ret	14	14	15	DNQ	DSQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	16	DNPQ
1979	A1 A2	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA			5	9th
				Riccardo Patrese	DNS	9	11	Ret	10	5	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	Ret
				Jochen Mass	8	7	12	9	8	Ret	6	15	Ret	6	Ret	6	Ret	DNQ	DNQ
1980	A3	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA				11	7th
				Riccardo Patrese	Ret	6	Ret	2	Ret	8	9	9	9	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Jochen Mass	Ret	10	6	7	Ret	4	10	13	8	DNQ			11	Ret
				Mike Thackwell											DNQ
				Manfred Winkelhock												DNQ
1981	A3	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	M P		USW	BRA	ARG	SMR	BEL	MON	ESP	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	CPL			10	8th
				Riccardo Patrese	Ret	3	7	2	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11
				Siegfried Stohr	DNQ	Ret	9	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	Ret	12	Ret	7	DNQ
				Jacques Villeneuve, Sr.														DNQ	DNQ
1982	A4 A5	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	P		RSA	BRA	USW	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	CAN	NED	GBR	FRA	GER	AUT	SUI	ITA	CPL		5	10th
				Brian Henton	DNQ	DNQ	Ret
				Marc Surer				WD	7	9	8	5	10	Ret	13	6	Ret	15	11	7
				Mauro Baldi	DNQ	10	DNQ	WD	Ret	DNQ	Ret	8	6	9	Ret	Ret	6	DNQ	12	11
1983	A6	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		BRA	USW	FRA	SMR	MON	BEL	DET	CAN	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	RSA			4	10th
				Marc Surer	6	5	10	6	Ret	11	11	Ret	17	7	Ret	8	10	Ret	8
				Chico Serra	9		Ret	8	7
				Alan Jones		Ret
				Thierry Boutsen						Ret	7	7	15	9	13	14	Ret	11	9
1984	A6	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		BRA	RSA	BEL	SMR	FRA	MON	CAN	DET	DAL	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	POR		3	10th
				Thierry Boutsen	6	12		5
				Marc Surer	7	9	8		Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret
	A7	BMW M12/13 1.5 L4 t						Ret					Ret	11	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret		3	11th[nb 1]
				Thierry Boutsen			Ret		11	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	10	9	Ret
1985	A8	BMW M12/13 1.5 L4 t	G		BRA	POR	SMR	MON	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	BEL	EUR	RSA	AUS		14	8th
				Gerhard Berger	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	11	Ret	8	7	Ret	9	Ret	7	10	5	6
				Thierry Boutsen	11	Ret	2	9	9	7	9	Ret	4	8	Ret	9	10	6	6	Ret
1986	A8 A9	BMW M12/13 1.5 L4 t	G		BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS		1	10th
				Marc Surer	Ret	Ret	9	9	9
				Christian Danner							Ret	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	8	11	9	Ret
				Thierry Boutsen	Ret	7	7	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	NC	NC	10	Ret	Ret	7	10	7	Ret
1987	A10	Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4 t	G		BRA	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	ESP	MEX	JPN	AUS		11	6th
				Derek Warwick	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	13	10	Ret	10	Ret
				Eddie Cheever	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	6	8	4	9	Ret
1988	A10B	Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4 t	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS		23	5th
				Derek Warwick	4	9	4	5	7	Ret	Ret	6	7	Ret	5	4	4	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Eddie Cheever	8	7	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	11	7	10	Ret	6	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
1989	A11	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS		13	7th
				Derek Warwick	5	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret		9	6	10	6	Ret	Ret	9	6	Ret
				Martin Donnelly							12
				Eddie Cheever	Ret	9	7	7	3	Ret	7	DNQ	12	5	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	8	Ret
1990	A11 A11B	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS		2	9th
				Michele Alboreto	10	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	17	10	Ret	Ret	12	13	12	9	10	Ret	DNQ
				Bernd Schneider	12													DNQ
				Alex Caffi		Ret	DNQ	5	8	DNQ	Ret	7	9	9	10	9	13		9	DNQ
Footwork
1991	A11C FA12	Porsche 3512 3.5 V12	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS		0	NC
				Alex Caffi	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
				Stefan Johansson					Ret	DNQ
				Michele Alboreto	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret
	FA12C	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8									Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ	DNQ	15	Ret	DNQ	13		0	NC
				Stefan Johansson							DNQ	DNQ
				Alex Caffi									DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	10	15
1992	FA13	Mugen-Honda MF-351H 3.5 V10	G		RSA	MEX	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS		6	7th
				Michele Alboreto	10	13	6	5	5	7	7	7	7	9	7	Ret	7	6	15	Ret
				Aguri Suzuki	8	DNQ	Ret	7	10	11	DNQ	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	10	8	8
1993	FA13B FA14	Mugen-Honda MF-351 HB 3.5 V10	G		RSA	BRA	EUR	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS		4	9th
				Derek Warwick	7	9	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	16	13	6	17	4	Ret	Ret	15	14	10
				Aguri Suzuki	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	10	Ret	13	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	7
1994	FA15	Ford HBE7/8 3.5 V8	G		BRA	PAC	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN	AUS		9	9th
				Christian Fittipaldi	Ret	4	13	Ret	Ret	DSQ	8	9	4	14	Ret	Ret	8	17	8	8
				Gianni Morbidelli	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	6	Ret	9	11	Ret	Ret
1995	FA16	Hart 830 3.0 V8	G		BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC	JPN	AUS	5	8th
				Gianni Morbidelli	Ret	Ret	13	11	9	6	14								Ret	Ret	3
				Max Papis								Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	12
				Taki Inoue	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	8	15	Ret	Ret	12	Ret
1996	FA17	Hart 830 3.0 V8	G		AUS	BRA	ARG	EUR	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN		1	9th
				Ricardo Rosset	9	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	11	8	9	Ret	14	13
				Jos Verstappen	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	11
Arrows
1997	A18	Yamaha OX11A 3.0 V10	B		AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	AUT	LUX	JPN	EUR	9	8th
				Damon Hill	DNS	17	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	12	6	8	2	13	Ret	7	8	12	Ret
				Pedro Diniz	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	13	5	13	Ret
1998	A19	Arrows T2-F1 3.0 V10	B		AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	LUX	JPN		6	7th
				Pedro Diniz	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	9	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	5	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Mika Salo	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	4	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	DNS	Ret	14	Ret
1999	A20	Arrows T2-F1 3.0 V10	B		AUS	BRA	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	EUR	MAL	JPN		1	9th
				Pedro de la Rosa	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	15	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	13
				Toranosuke Takagi	7	8	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	DSQ	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
2000	A21	Supertec FB02 3.0 V10	B		AUS	BRA	SMR	GBR	ESP	EUR	MON	CAN	FRA	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN	MAL	7	7th
				Pedro de la Rosa	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	16	16	Ret	Ret	12	Ret
				Jos Verstappen	Ret	7	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	15	4	Ret	Ret	10
2001	A22	Asiatech 001 3.0 V10	B		AUS	MAL	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN	1	10th
				Jos Verstappen	10	7	Ret	Ret	12	6	8	10	Ret	13	10	9	12	10	Ret	Ret	15
				Enrique Bernoldi	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	8	Ret	12	Ret	13	14
2002	A23	Cosworth CR-3 3.0 V10	B		AUS	MAL	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	FRA	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN	2	11th
				Heinz-Harald Frentzen	DSQ	11	Ret	Ret	6	11	6	13	13	Ret	DNQ	Ret
				Enrique Bernoldi	DSQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	10	Ret	DNQ	Ret

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arrows Grand Prix.

• F1 Rejects article on Arrows from 1996 to 2002

Arrows Arrows Grand Prix International Personnel Franco Ambrosio Alan Rees Jackie Oliver Tony Southgate Cars FA1 A1 A1B A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A10B A11 A11B Notable drivers Riccardo Patrese Derek Warwick Eddie Cheever Thierry Boutsen Footwork Arrows Personnel Wataru Ohashi Jackie Oliver Alan Jenkins Notable Drivers Aguri Suzuki Michele Alboreto Cars A11C FA12 FA13 FA13B FA14 FA15 FA16 FA17 TWR Arrows Personnel Tom Walkinshaw Cars A18 A19 A20 A21 A22 A23 Notable drivers Damon Hill